Linear slides are used for transporting devices along a known path. Typically the devices are translated both forward and backward along the path. The linear slide may include a drive mechanism for manually or automatically driving a guide carriage along a guide rail of the linear slide.
Some of the guide carriages will use internal ball bearings that recirculate through a body of the guide carriage. The ball bearings will ride on raceway portions of the guide rail to facilitate low friction translation of the guide carriage along the guide rail. Some guide carriages utilize guide wheels that ride along the guide rail.
Most linear slides are formed from a linear guide having a guide rail and a guide carriage. A drive mechanism is then attached to a top surface of the guide carriage to provide a drive mechanism for moving the guide carriage. Unfortunately, this requires attaching the drive mechanism to the top mounting surface of the guide carriage. This mounting arrangement results in interference with the ability to mount the desired devices to be transported by the linear slide to the guide carriage.
The present invention relates to improvements over the current state of the art of linear slides.